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MASTERS  IN  ART 


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The  January  number  was  devoted  to  Edouard  Manet ; the  February  number  to  Carlo 
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Part  37. 
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VOL.  1. 

VAN  DYCK 

TITIAN 

VELASQUEZ 

HOLBEIN 

BOTTICELLI 

REMBRANDT 

REYNOLDS 

MILLET 

GIOV.  BELLINI 

MURILLO 

FRANS  HALS 

RAPHAEL 


VOL.  4 


Part  13. 
Part  14. 
Part  15. 
Part  16. 
Part  17. 
Part  18. 
Part  19. 
Part  20. 
Part  21 
Part  22. 
Part  23. 
Part  24. 


VOL.  2. 

RUBENS 
DA  VINCI 
DUREK 

MICHELANGELO  ( Sculpture ) 
MICHELANGELO  (Painting) 
COROT 

BURNE-JONES 
TER  BORCH 
DELLA  ROBBIA 
DEL  SARTO 
GAINSBOROUGH 
CORREGGIO 

VOL.  5. 


Part  25. 
Part  26. 
Part  27. 
Part  28. 
Part  29. 
Part  30. 
Part  31. 
Part  32. 
Part  33. 
Part  34. 
Part  35. 
Part  36. 


VOL.  3. 

PHIDIAS 

PERUGINO 

HOLBEIN’S  DRAWINGS 

TINTORETTO 

PIETER  DE  HOOCH 

NATTIER 

PAUL  POTTER 

GIOTTO 

PRAXITELES 

HOGARTH 

TURNER 

LUINI 


VOL.  6. 


ROMNEY 

Part 

49.  FRA  BARTOLOMMEO 

Part  61. 

WATTS 

FRA  ANGELICO 

Part 

60.  GREUZE 

Part  62. 

PALMA  VECCHIO 

WATTEaU 

Part 

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Part  63. 

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Part  64. 

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53.  LANDSEER 

Part  65. 

CHARDIN 

GERAED  1)00 

Part 

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Part  66. 

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CA R PACCI O 

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Part  67. 

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ROSA  BONHEUR 

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Part  68. 

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PUVIS  DE  CHAVANNES 

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GIORGIONE 

Part 

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VOL.  7. 

VOL.  8. 

JANUARY 

STUART 

Part 

85. 

JANUARY 

LAWRENCE 

FEBRUARY 

DAVID 

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86. 

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90. 

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SEPTEMBER  . 

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93. 

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Mai  m B 


M A ES 


MASTEBS  IN  AHT  PLATE  I 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  A CIE 

[07] 


TIIE  DBEAMEB 
HYKS  MUSEUM,  AMSTERDAM 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PLATE  II 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  FRANZ  HANFSTAENGL 

[89] 


MAES 

THE  LISTENING  SERVANT 
RUCK  INGHAM  PALACE,  LONDON 


MASTERS  I N ART  PLATE  HI 


PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BERLIN  PHOTOGRAPHIC  CO. 

[91] 


MAES 

AN  OLD  WOMAN  PARING  APPLES 
BERLIN  GALLERY 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PLATE  IV 

COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY  DETROIT  PUBLISHING  CO. 

[93] 


MAES 

PORTRAIT  OF  A WOMAN 
METROPOLITAN  MUSEUM,  NEW  YORK 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PLATE  V 


M A ES 


PHOTOGRAPH  BY  FRANZ  HANF3TAENGL 

[95] 


THE  READER 
MUSEUM,  HHUSSKLS 


MASTEKS  IN  AHT  PLATE  VI 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  FRANZ  HANFSTAENGL 

Cot] 


MAES 
IJOHTEA  IT  OF 
NATIONAL  GALLKJ 


A MAN 
iY,  LONDON 


MASTEHS  IN  ART  PLATE  V I T 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  FRANZ  HANFSTAENQL 

[99] 


MAES 

THE  IDLE  SEEVANT 
NATIONAL  GALLEKY,  LONDON 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PLATE  VI  IT 

H [ioi]Z  H 


PHOTOGRAI 


IFSTAENQL 


M A ES 

THE  CARD  PLAYERS 
NATIONAL  GALLERY,  LONDON 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PRATE  IX 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY  DETROIT  PUBLISHING  CO. 

[103] 


MAES 

PORTRAIT  OF  THE  HUCnESSE  DE  MAZARIN 
METROPOLITAN  MUSEUM,  NEW  YORK 


MASTERS  IN  ART  PLATE  X 
L 105  ] 


MAES 

THE  SPINNER 

RYKS  MUSEUM,  AMSTERDAM 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


t c o I a a s‘  iW  a c S 

BORN  16  3 2:  DIED  1693 
DUTCH  SCHOOL 

THE  life  of  Nieolaas  Maes  or  Maas  (pronounced  Mas)  can  be  told  in  a 
few  lines,  for  the  facts  known  about  him  are  very  meagre.  He  was  born 
in  1632  at  Dordrecht,  whence  came  also  several  other  Dutch  painters  — Al- 
bert Cuyp,  Ferdinand  Bol,  and  Godfried  Schalcken.  The  year  1632  was  a 
significant  one  in  the  development  of  Dutch  art,  the  year  that  Rembrandt 
painted  the  great  picture  of  his  youth,  ‘The  Anatomical  Lecture.’  Maes 
doubtless  studied  with  some  unknown  painter  before,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
entering  Rembrandt’s  studio,  where  he  remained  four  years.  M.  Burger  says 
that  he  learned  drawing  of  some  insignificant  painter,  but  that  he  learned 
painting  from  Rembrandt. 

Maes’s  best  pictures  were  his  earliest  ones,  delightful  pictures  of  genre, 
painted  while  still  in  Rembrandt’s  studio,  or  at  least  in  the  years  immediately 
succeeding,  that  is,  between  1655  and  1660.  Generally  they  were  small  pic- 
tures of  interior  scenes.  Unlike  Gerard  Terborch  and  Gabriel  Metsu,  who 
depicted  gallant  scenes  of  the  Dutch  upper  classes,  and  unlike  Jan  Steen  and 
Adrian  van  Ostade,  who  painted  scenes  of  rollicking  tavern  life,  Nieolaas 
Maes  chose  simple  scenes  of  humble  peasant  life.  Frequently  he  gives  us  an 
old  woman,  busy  about  her  daily  vocations,  either  spinning,  as  in  the  two 
pictures  now  belonging  to  the  Ryks  Museum  at  Amsterdam  (plate  x),  or 
preparing  vegetables  for  dinner  (plate  111),  or  asking  a blessing  before  par- 
taking of  her  simple  repast.  The  light  generally  falls  from  an  unseen  window 
on  the  left  of  the  picture,  in  the  masterly  handling  of  which  Maes  shows  him- 
self a veritable  pupil  of  Rembrandt,  though  he  was  never  over-influenced  by 
the  great  master.  There  is  one  picture  by  Maes  in  the  Louvre  entitled, 
‘The  Blessing,’  a marvelously  beautiful  picture  of  an  old  woman  with  her 
hands  folded  in  prayer,  as  she  sits  before  a table  laid  out  with  simple  viands 
for  the  evening  meal,  while  her  cat  plays  with  her  slipper.  This  picture  is 
signed,  and  dated  1648,  but  M.  Lafenestre  thinks  the  signature  is  forged  and 
considers  the  date  as  doubtful.  If  genuine,  Maes  must  have  painted  it  when 
only  sixteen  years  of  age,  which  seems  almost  incredible,  as  it  is  painted  in 
his  very  best  manner  and  seems  hardly  the  work  of  an  immature  lad. 

[107] 


24 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


At  other  times  he  painted  less  somber  subjects,  for  example  the  two  ver- 
sions of  the  so-called  ‘ Indiscreet  Servant,’  one  in  the  Six  Collection  at  Am- 
sterdam, the  other  in  Buckingham  Palace  (plate  n).  ‘The  Milkmaid’  of 
the  Van  Loon  Collection  of  Amsterdam  is  another  charming  work  of  these 
early  years.  Here  the  scene  is  laid  outside  an  old  Dutch  house,  and  the  sub- 
ject is  the  very  simple  one  of  an  older  woman  in  white  cap  with  gold  orna- 
ments giving  some  money  to  a young  girl  dressed  in  a straw  hat  and  red 
petticoat,  and  holding  a milk-pail.  This  picture  Lord  Ronald  Gower  called 
“a  superb  specimen  of  the  most  Rembrandt-like  pupil  of  Rembrandt;  the 
coloring  of  this  picture  is  splendid.” 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Maes  ever  left  the  master’s  influence,  as  he  did 
about  1660,  when  he  went  to  Antwerp  to  see  the  works  of  the  great  Flemings 
and  to  visit  the  painters  still  living.  From  this  time  he  gave  up  the  painting 
of  simple  genre  subjects,  in  which  he  excelled,  for  the  painting  of  portraits, 
for  the  reason,  it  is  thought,  that  there  was  a better  livelihood  to  be  gained 
at  that  time  in  this  branch  of  art.  Rembrandt  had  rather  lost  favor  with  the 
public  during  his  later  life,  and  Van  der  Heist  and  Dirk  Hals,  brother  to 
Franz  Hals,  were  the  popular  portrait  artists  of  the  day  in  Holland.  In 
Flanders  the  great  masters  were  all  passed  away.  Rubens  had  died  in  1640, 
Van  Dyke  in  1641,  and  Snyders,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  in  1657.  Only 
Jordaens  and  Teniers  the  Younger  were  left,  with  the  former  of  whom  Maes 
made  friends.  Maes  did  not  adopt  the  splendid  Rembrandtesque  manner  of 
portrait-painting,  but  rather  that  of  the  degenerate  Flemings,  who  had  be- 
come vitiated  by  French  taste.  Most  of  his  portraits  are  smoothly  finished, 
commonplace,  and  uninteresting,  and  he  seems  to  have  abandoned  his  rich 
color  and  splendid  chiaroscuro. 

In  Antwerp  Maes  remained  more  than  eighteen  years,  and  was  most  suc- 
cessful from  a popular  and  financial  point  of  view.  In  fact,  it  was  as  a por- 
trait-painter that  the  artist  was  best  known  until  within  a hundred  years, 
when  interest  was  aroused  again  in  his  exquisite  little  pictures  of  genre.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  ‘Little  Masters’  of  Holland  were  only  successful  when 
they  kept  to  the  painting  of  small  canvases;  that  when  they  attempted  large 
themes  they  lost  themselves,  they  became  weak  and  uninteresting;  but  that 
the  pupils  of  Rembrandt  alone,  and  among  them  Maes,  were  successful  at 
both  large  and  small  pictures. 

Some  of  the  later  portraits  attributed  to  Maes  are  so  inferior  in  conception 
and  handling  that  it  has  been  thought  by  some  critics  that  they  may  have 
been  painted  by  another  artist  of  the  same  name,  possibly  a son,  as  the  name 
Maes  or  Maas  is  a common  one  in  Holland.  The  manner  of  signature,  too, 
on  the  early  genre  pictures  and  that  on  the  later  portraits  is  quite  different  in 
character.  In  the  former  the  artist  wrote  his  name,  N.  Maes,  either  in  large 
Roman  letters  or  with  the  M,A,  and  E,  the  first  three  letters  of  the  surname, 
joined  in  a monogram.  In  the  later  pictures  the  initial  N and  the  initial  M 
of  the  surname  were  joined  together  with  many  flourishes. 

On  the  other  hand,  M.  Burger  points  to  a portrait  of  a boy  in  the  Museum 

[108] 


MAES 


25 


of  Rotterdam  with  the  earlier  form  of  signature,  and  painted  in  such  a manner 
as  to  show  plainly  the  transition  from  the  pictures  of  genre  to  the  later  por- 
traits dating  from  1675  onward.  In  this  picture  is  a life-sized,  half-length 
figure  of  a boy  dressed  in  a handsome  costume  of  gray  and  white,  with  knots 
of  gray  and  white  ribbon  at  his  girdle.  He  is  offering  cherries  to  a parrot 
perched  on  a balustrade.  Behind  him  is  a rich  red  curtain  drawn  back  to  show 
a sunset.  M.  Burger  says  of  this:  “We  have  come  to  portraits  composed,  with 
balustrades,  curtains,  vistas  of  sunsets,  with  accessories  and  pretexts  for 
decorative  combinations.  From  the  simplicity  of  Rembrandt  we  go  to  the 
elegant  recherches  of  Van  Dyke,  to  the  emphatic  richness  of  the  Flemings.” 
The  reds,  though  rich  and  beautiful  in  themselves  and  recalling  the  color  so 
often  used  in  the  sleeves  or  jackets  of  his  peasant  women,  are  much  too  in- 
tense for  the  grays  and  whites;  and,  used  in  strong  contrast  without  moder- 
ating half-tones,  the  shadows  have  lost  their  transparence  and  the  clear  tones 
their  limpidity.  “His  future  decadence,”  continues  Burger,  “is  already 
prophetic  in  this  portrait,  as  well  in  color  as  in  composition.”  Until  we  have 
some  further  information  on  the  subject,  let  us  consider,  as  does  M.  Burger, 
that  these  portraits  as  well  as  genre  pieces  are  by  the  same  man,  one  only 
Nicolaas  Maes. 

Among  the  large  canvases  containing  a number  of  portraits,  members  of  a 
guild  or  trustees  of  a hospital,  and  of  which  Rembrandt  and  more  especially 
Franz  Hals  painted  so  many,  there  is  only  one  that  is  attributed  to  Maes; 
namely,  a picture  in  the  Six  Collection  at  Amsterdam.  Formerly  it  was  in  the 
Van  der  Hoop  Collection,  and  attributed  to  Jacob  Backer.  It  is  now  thought 
to  represent  the  Corporation  of  Surgeons  in  Amsterdam,  and  M.  Bredius 
has  pointed  out  that  any  one  conversant  with  the  history  of  costume  in  Holland 
could  see  that  it  was  painted  too  late  to  be  by  the  hand  of  Backer,  who  died 
in  1651;  and  also  the  astute  critic  has  discovered  a similarity  in  the  portrait 
heads  to  two  portraits  by  Maes  in  the  Brussels  Museum,  painted  in  his  transi- 
tional manner,  “when  he  has  still  all  the  power  and  brilliance  of  his  color,  and 
when  he  still  professes  also  some  respect  for  the  truth  of  chiaroscuro.” 

Of  the  pictures  painted  from  1665  to  1670,  there  are  few  in  existence  to-day 
bearing  his  signature,  but  there  are  numerous  portraits  painted  by  him  after 
1675  to  be  found  in  many  of  the  Dutch  galleries.  John  Smith,  in  his  ‘Cata- 
logue Raisonne,’  mentions  forty-five  pictures  of  genre,  but  does  not  catalogue 
his  portraits.  About  two  thirds  of  the  former  are  in  England,  several  fine  ones 
in  the  National  Gallery,  but  many  more  in  private  collections. 

In  1678  Maes  returned  to  Holland  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  days,  and  settled 
in  Amsterdam.  Heer  Houbraken  says  that  he  was  quiet  and  courteous  in 
manner,  that  he  enjoyed  society  and  entertaining,  and  was  of  a cheerful  and 
happy  disposition  until  the  last  year  of  his  life,  when  he  suffered  much  from 
the  gout,  of  which  trouble,  like  Gaspar  Netscher,  he  died,  in  December,  1693, 
in  his  sixty-first  year. 

As  Frederick  Wedmore  writes,  Nicolaas  Maes  was  “one  of  the  strangest 
instances  not  of  a talent  that  was  promising,  but  of  a genius  that  was  great, 

[109] 


26 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


an  art  consummate  and  accomplished,  though  limited,  which  became  too 
soon  perverted,  and  then  was  somewhat  early  buried  out  of  sight  — yet  a 
genius  and  an  art  that  left  us  after  all,  in  our  day,  no  irritating  array  of  am- 
bitious failures  on  which  attention  must  be  fixed.  During  ten  splendid  years, 
from  1650  to  1660  — or  it  may  be  a little  later  — there  is  a series  of  high  work. 
What  followed  is  really  known  less,  and  we  can  afford  to  ignore  it.” 


Che  3rt  of  Jffcolaas  jftacs 

H.  HAVARD  'THE  DUTCH  SCHOOL  OF  PAINTING’ 

NICOLAAS  MAES,  of  all  Rembrandt’s  pupils,  is  perhaps  the  most  suc- 
cessful in  the  management  of  his  light.  His  interiors,  lighted  by  a sun- 
beam thrown  upon  a wall,  recall  Rembrandt’s  style.  Besides  this,  they  are 
painted  with  a fulness  and  power  at  once  remarkable.  His  ‘Old  Woman  at 
the  Spinning-Wheel’  in  the  Museum  of  Amsterdam,  his  ‘Dutch  Home,’  and 
his  ‘Lazy  Servant’  in  the  National  Gallery  are  paintings  of  the  very  highest 
merit.  His  ‘Inquisitive  Servant’  in  the  Six  Collection  is  a work  of  the  first 
order,  but  in  this  work  his  light  is  less  concentrated  and  less  brilliant.  Maes’s 
favorite  color  seems  to  have  been  red.  No  artist  uses  this  color  with  more 
boldness  or  more  success  than  he  does  in  his  earlier  works;  and  for  this  reason 
doubts  have  been  raised  if  he  ever  did  paint  the  series  of  large  be-wigged 
portraits  which  have  been  attributed  to  him,  somber  and  morose  faces,  uni- 
formly set  against  a dark  background.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  brilliant 
painter  of ‘The  Cradle’  forgetting  his  skill  in  light  and  shade  and  his  love  of 
nature  to  give  himself  up,  as  in  these  commonplace  productions,  to  manner- 
ism and  affectation. 

LORD  RONALD  GOWER  ‘THE  FI  G U R E - P A I NT  E R S OF  HOLLAND’ 

WE  should  feel  puzzled  if  we  had  the  choice  given  us  between  a good 
example  of  Pieter  de  Hooch  and  one  of  Nicolaas  Maes’s  pictures. 
There  is  much  likeness  in  the  subjects  which  these  two  charming  painters 
placed  on  their  canvases;  much  resemblance  between  them  also  in  the  superb 
coloring  and  perfect  grouping  of  their  figures:  these  two  artists,  with  Ver  Meer 
of  Delft,  have  in  their  way  never  been  surpassed,  and  it  would  be  no  easy 
question  to  answer  which  is  the  greatest  of  the  three. 

It  is  a matter  of  doubt  whether  De  Hooch  and  Ver  Meer  were  pupils  of 
Rembrandt,  but  it  is  certain  that  Maes  studied  under  him.  During  his  life- 
time, and  until  the  end  of  last  century,  Maes  was  chiefly  known  as  a portrait- 
painter.  When  he  visited  Jordaens  at  Antwerp  he  was  questioned  by  that 
artist  what  manner  of  painting  he  practised.  Maes  replied,  “I  am  but  a 
portrait-painter.”  His  reputation  is,  however,  not  now  maintained  by  his 

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MAES 


27 


portraits,  which  are  inferior  to  Honthorst’s,  but  rests  on  the  superb  little  pic- 
tures of  scenes  from  every-day  life  — a Dutch  housewife  nursing  her  child,  or 
surprising  her  maid  asleep  over  her  pots  and  pans;  a girl  leaning  out  of  win- 
dow, or  listening  to  a group  of  lovers  who  imagine  they  are  unwatched  and 
unheard;  an  old  woman  saying  grace,  or  peeling  potatoes;  a child  knitting  a 
stocking;  an  old  man  reading  a book;  and  other  similar  objects.  To  these 
simple  scenes  Maes  gave  a charm  and  a beauty  that  only  two  or  three  painters 
have  ever  equaled;  as  Charles  Blanc  observes,  his  coloring  is  as  fine  as  that 
of  Rembrandt  and  of  Titian. 

FREDERICK  WEDMORE  ‘THE  MASTERS  OF  GENRE  PAINTING’ 

NICOLAAS  MAES  was  one  of  those  gifted  and  brilliant  men  who  should 
have  died  young,  for  the  immense  achievements  of  his  youth  were  never 
supported  by  the  work  of  his  middle  age.  The  last-century  criticism  of  the 
sagacious  Descamps  has  nevertheless  classed  him  in  chief  as  a painter  of  the 
works  by  which  he  is  least  entitled  to  live  — a painter  of  portraits,  with  whom 
pictures  of  the  kind  that  we  have  got  to  like  him  for  were  but  a less  important 
business.  Some  day  the  laborious  historian  may  accumulate  material  which 
shall  enable  us  to  trace  with  accuracy  of  detail  the  rise  and  fall  of  Nicolaas 
Maes,  from  that  early  but  fascinating  and  already  well-nigh  masterly  picture 
in  the  Amsterdam  Museum  — a portrait  ennobled  by  imagination  — and  so 
through  the  series  of  his  interiors,  as  splendid  in  tone  as  refined  and  subdued 
in  sentiment,  to  the  later  portraits  in  which  his  early  preoccupation  is  leaving 
him,  and  so  to  those  in  which  it  is  utterly  gone,  and  only  a painter  feebly 
forcible  or  avowedly  degenerate  remains  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  the  fag 
end  of  talent  debauched. 

Born  at  Dordrecht  in  1632,  he  enters,  in  1650,  the  studio  of  Rembrandt 
at  Amsterdam,  and  for  the  next  ten  years  the  greatest  of  the  Dutch  masters 
has  no  worthier  pupil.  Just  what  De  Koninck  was  to  Rembrandt  in  land- 
scape Maes  was  to  him  in  pictures  whose  interest  centered  in  humanity;  he 
was  the  pupil,  that  is  to  say,  with  whom  the  seed  of  Rembrandt’s  teaching 
fell  on  the  kindliest  and  fittest  ground.  He  had  too  much  of  individual  and 
personal  genius  to  be  an  imitator,  but  he  had  too  profound  a sympathy  with 
Rembrandt  to  avoid  resembling  him.  Like  his  master,  he  was  a painter  of 
shadowed  places  and  of  sad  and  quiet  lives.  Of  course  he  lacked  Rembrandt’s 
endless  variety.  He  shut  himself  up,  in  the  main,  with  too  few  types  — nar- 
rowed himself,  in  the  main,  to  the  expression  of  too  few  characters.  Rem- 
brandt himself  was  interested  in,  and  Rembrandt  understood,  the  men  of 
action;  these  he  grasped  no  less  strongly  than  the  figures  of  reverie.  But  with 
Maes  it  is  the  mind  that  broods,  the  character  that  meditates  and  ponders, 
rather  than  acts,  which  interests  him.  Others  subordinately  interest  him: 
even  a little  the  servant  in  her  work;  or  the  servant  idle,  in  a brief  sleep  which 
has  a snatch  of  the  humor  that  pleased  the  age;  or  the  woman  at  the  spinet, 
but  her  music  is  already  of  reverie;  or  the  child  with  the  Dutch  housewife  — 
but  the  child,  I note  it,  is  neither  at  play  nor  at  work,  but,  true  to  her  part  in 

[111] 


28 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


Maes’s  drama,  watching,  observing,  considering,  though  it  is  but  the  scraping 
of  a parsnip.  . . . 

We  think  of  Nicolaas  Maes,  then,  as  the  painter  of  a home  life  cheerful 
with  the  merry  eyes  of  childhood,  or  dignified  with  the  gravity  of  common 
pursuits,  or  sobered  and  saddened  with  the  experiences  of  age  — the  age  of 
the  lonely  and  humble.  We  think  of  him  as  one  who,  by  the  Queen’s  ‘ Listener’ 
(painted  when  he  was  yet  young),  by  the  noble  interior  seen  at  Burlington 
House  in  1875,  and  by  some  other  pictures,  such  as  that  at  the  Amsterdam 
club-house,  and  that  in  the  Lacaze  Collection,  which  carry  also  another 
message  more  purely  his  own  — we  think  of  him  by  these  as  one  of  the  band 
that  carried  here  and  again  to  perfection  what  their  master  left  incomplete: 
the  subtleties  of  passage  from  breadth  of  sunshine,  glowing  or  cool,  to  the 
effects  of  the  interior  atmosphere,  on  room  side,  chamber  wall,  where,  with 
tints  strangely  neutral,  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  light  begins  to  be  shadow 
or  shadow  begins  to  be  light,  and  so  amid  half-glooms  to  isolated  points  of 
brightness  the  eye  may  pass  to- — as  in  the  Queen’s  ‘Listener,’  where  the 
rounded  baluster-head  catches  at  just  one  point  of  its  equal  curve  the  stray 
glimmer,  the  glimmer  breaking  out  again,  yellow  and  brassy,  on  the  further 
nails  of  the  straight  Dutch  chair  that  peers  from  background  space  and  wall, 
cozy  in  their  gathered  dimness.  With  these  men  — these  poetic  Dutchmen  — 
light  is  more  than  ever  before  a presence  of  slow  and  changeful  life,  giving 
life,  too,  and  sense  of  companionship  to  else  inanimate  things.  Maes  and  his 
fellows  followed  its  subtleties  on  chamber  wall  and  hanging,  and  in  its  narrow 
yet  eventful  journey  from  window  to  hearth  — they  played  out  for  us  its 
little  drama  there  within  that  limited  space  they  knew  so  well  and  calculated 
so  acutely  — much  as  the  more  commonly  extolled  painters  of  our  last  gener- 
ation watched  it  in  conflicts  of  sunshine  and  shadow  in  English  landscape. 
Nor  when  prepossessions  are  once  laid  aside,  is  it  easy  to  say  whether  the 
greater  praise  in  art  belongs  to  the  one  or  the  other.  In  itself  the  tree-trunk, 
the  damp  herbage,  the  clod  of  earth,  even  the  rain-cloud,  is  hardly  a worthier 
or  more  proper  object  to  be  painted  than  hearth  and  hanging,  window  and 
wall. 

The  artist,  giving  a quality  as  well  as  finding  one,  transmutes  and  exalts 
alike  the  one  thing  and  the  other;  and  so  what  Turner,  Constable,  De  Wint, 
did  for  the  country  — in  revealing  beauty  and  interest  hidden  till  they  por- 
trayed them  — De  Hooch  and  Van  der  Meer  and  Nicolaas  Maes  did  for  the 
home. 

A.  BREDIUS  ‘LES  CHHFS-d’cEUVRE  DU  MUSEE  d’aMSTERDAM’ 

AMONG  the  numerous  pupils  of  Rembrandt  we  owe  a quite  special  men- 
tion  to  Nicolaas  Maes,  who,  born  in  1632,  at  Dordrecht,  died  at  Am- 
sterdam in  November,  1693.  From  1650  to  1653  he  must  certainly  have  re- 
ceived lessons  of  the  great  artist.  In  his  first  manner,  comprised  between 
1654  and  about  1660,  we  possess  a series  of  the  best  productions  of  Maes. 
Their  collection  furnishes  us  an  even  level  to  which  under  such  instruction  a 

[112] 


MAES 


29 


painter  happily  endowed  by  nature  could  attain,  for  some  of  these  works 
would  almost  bear  comparison  with  those  of  his  master.  It  pleased  Maes  to 
paint  aged  women,  sometimes  seated  at  table,  before  a frugal  repast,  for  which 
they  give  thanks  to  God;  sometimes  seated  before  their  spinning-wheel, 
whereby  to  gain  their  livelihood.  At  other  times  his  compositions  are  of  a more 
pleasing  nature.  It  is  thus,  in  the  beautiful  work  of  the  Collection  Six,  he 
shows  us  an  indiscreet  servant,  lending  her  ear  to  the  conversation  of  an 
amorous  couple  placed  in  the  center  of  the  picture;  in  the  background  a party 
of  people  at  table,  with  a vista  upon  another  chamber  and  upon  out-of-doors. 
The  truly  marvelous  charm  of  the  color  makes  of  this  work,  dated  1607,  one 
of  the  most  clever  creations  of  Maes.  An  analogous  composition  (dated  1665) 
is  found  at  Buckingham  Palace,  and  it  is  in  England,  furthermore,  that  his 
best  productions  are  found  to-day.  One  of  his  most  remarkable  works,  ‘An 
Old  Woman  in  Prayer,’  belongs  to  the  Amsterdam  society  “ Felix  Meritis.” 
The  na'ive  expression  of  that  honest  face,  furrowed  with  wrinkles,  the  ad- 
mirable execution  of  the  hands,  the  emotion  which  disengages  itself  from  a 
subject  so  simple,  the  beauty  and  power  of  the  color,  the  picturesqueness  of 
effect  — all  unite  to  make  this  picture  one  of  the  most  exquisite  works  which 
have  been  executed  under  the  direct  influence  of  Rembrandt.  In  its  dimen- 
sions much  more  limited,  the  Ryks  Museum  offers  us  two  little  canvases, 
representing  each  a ‘Spinner.’  We  give  our  readers  the  reproduction  of  the 
better  preserved  of  the  two,  belonging  to  the  Collection  Dupper.  . . . The 
picture  of  the  Collection  Van  der  Hoop  presents  a great  resemblance  to  that, 
but  the  light  is  more  vivid  and  still  more  brilliant.  Unhappily,  it  has  suffered 
a little.  We  must  cite  also  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable  productions  of  his 
first  period,  ‘The  Dreamer,’  a pensive  young  girl  who  looks  out  of  the  window. 
Has  her  gaze  met  in  the  distance  some  loved  person  who  from  below  contem- 
plates her  across  the  apricot  and  peach  vines  whose  festoons  surround  the 
window  ? However  it  may  be,  the  picture,  although  deteriorated,  attracts  the 
attention  of  all  visitors  to  our  museum. 

Maes  did  not  live  a long  time  at  Amsterdam.  After  a short  visit  at  Antwerp, 
he  made  a very  long  sojourn  at  Dordrecht,  his  native  town.  Did  he  travel, 
perhaps,  in  that  event,  a sufficiently  long  time  before  he  definitely  settled  at 
Amsterdam,  which  was  certainly  after  1678  ? He  had  in  that  interval  entirely 
changed  his  manner  of  painting,  and  several  pictures  of  the  last  epoch  have  a 
character  so  different  that  even  now  one  meets  a number  of  incredulous 
persons  who  persist  in  attributing  these  works  to  another  painter  having  the 
same  name.  It  is  however  proved  that  there  has  been  only  one  Nicolaas 
Maes,  and  that,  although  some  of  his  works  differ  very  much  from  others 
for  various  reasons,  yet  they  are  in  accord  with  the  taste  which  then  reigned. 
His  visit  to  Antwerp,  where  he  found  the  painting  of  portraits  carried  on  in 
ways  so  opposed  to  Rembrandt,  and  the  success  of  Van  der  Heist  and  other 
painters,  who  followed  this  master,  all  contributed  to  make  the  Rembrandt- 
esque  Maes  of  1655  the  Maes  so  strongly  tainted  with  mannerism  of  1670- 
1690.  He  had  early  acquired  the  habit  of  painting  his  models  in  fantastic 

[113] 


30 


MASTERS  I N ART 


costumes,  disguises  ‘a  la  romaine,’  as  they  said  then  (I  have  found  a contract 
by  which  Johan  Andre  Lievens,  the  son  of  Jan  Lievens  the  old  painter  well 
known,  engaged  himself  to  paint  a couple  of  good  bourgeois,  the  husband  as 
Scipio  and  his  wife  as  Pallas),  and  that  not  as  Rembrandt  did  when  he  worked 
at  his  own  portrait,  at  those  of  Saskia  and  of  Hendrick^e,  thus  putting  to 
use  the  rare  stuffs  or  the  precious  objects  which  with  his  love  of  the  picturesque 
or  his  passion  of  collecting  he  had  bought  at  the  dealers.  No;  all  the  material 
of  Maes  consisted  for  his  men  in  a red  cloak,  and  for  his  women  in  a violet 
shawl  with  which  he  draped  them.  Then  supposing  a gust  of  wind,  he  made 
the  stuffs  flutter  a little,  and  the  game  was  played.  The  red  served  to  soften 
the  too  dark  complexion  of  the  men,  the  violet  to  whiten  still  more  the  flesh- 
tints  of  the  women.  Sometimes,  when  it  pleased  him,  he  changed  the  roles. 

The  eyes  were  always  a little  larger  than  nature,  but  this  did  not  go  so  badly 
with  his  models,  and  Houbraken  recounts  to  us  a propos  a sufficiently  pleasing 
anecdote.  Maes  having  at  one  time  painted  a woman  too  little  favored  as 
regards  beauty,  and  having  copied  her  too  closely  from  nature,  the  woman 
complained  to  the  artist.  To  exculpate  himself,  the  latter  made  haste  to 
observe  that  the  portrait  was  not  yet  finished.  Then,  taking  his  brush,  he 
obliterated  the  marks  of  smallpox  and  other  imperfections.  Having  adorned 
her  cheeks  with  fresh  colors,  he  said  to  her,  “Madame,  now  your  portrait  is 
finished,’’  at  which  the  latter  exclaimed,  “Oh!  yes,  now  it  is  I!’’  And  that 
was  the  same  Maes  who  not  long  since  painted  those  beautiful  interiors  with 
beautiful  effects  of  chiaroscuro  in  the  manner  of  Rembrandt,  and  those  ex- 
quisite compositions  which  we  admire,  as  the  ‘Woman  in  Prayer,’  of  “Felix 
Meritis,”  or  the  ‘ Spinner’  of  the  Ryks  Museum.  But  his  portraits  were  much 
sought  after,  and  the  vogue  which  they  enjoyed  explains  to  us  that  among  the 
Dutch  artists  of  the  seventeenth  century  we  could  hardly  cite  one,  Miervelt 
excepted,  who  has  produced  so  great  a number,  and  belonging  for  the  most 
part  to  persons  of  the  highest  condition. — translated  from  the  french 

ARSENE  ALEXANDRE  ‘HISTOIRE  POPULAIRE  DE  LA  PEINTURE ’ 

NICOLAAS  MAES  (1632-1693)  might  be  placed  as  well  among  the 
painters  of  manners  (rather  than  as  a pupil  of  Rembrandt).  But  a 
painter  of  manners,  is  he  truly  that  ? In  these  last  years  they  have  almost 
given  Maes  the  reputation  of  a great  painter.  Without  doubt  he  acquired  at 
the  studio  of  Rembrandt  a taste  for  rich  color  and  generous  matter.  He  prof- 
ited as  well  by  the  lessons  in  that  which  concerned  the  vivid  lighting  of  ob- 
jects; he  knew  how  to  make  the  reds  and  blacks  vibrate  by  the  clever  juxta- 
position of  gray.  In  short,  of  the  immediate  pupils  of  Rembrandt  we  may 
recognize  without  too  much  chicanery  that  he  is  the  best  painter.  His  ‘Card- 
Players’  of  the  National  Gallery  would  be  proof  of  it;  at  the  same  time  also, 
a certain  number  of  pictures  of  different  dimensions,  representing  old  women 
occupied  with  spinning,  eating,  saying  grace,  reading,  or  quite  simply  sleep- 
ing. But  we  perceive  quickly  that  these  old  women  are  always  the  same  old 
woman,  that  the  diversity  of  her  occupations  does  not  give  the  variety  of 

[114] 


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31 


interest  which  her  person  can  inspire;  that  we  find  ourselves,  in  a word,  only 
in  the  presence  of  a painter,  and  not  ot  an  observer.  This  diminishes  con- 
siderably the  place  which  Maes  might  occupy  in  the  school.  He  has  only 
beautiful  technique;  he  is  only  a dealer  in  strength  of  handling,  hardly  less 
insupportable  in  the  long  run  than  Gerard  Dou,  a dealer  in  its  tricks. 

To  complete  the  diminution  of  sympathy  in  regard  to  him,  we  find  that 
Maes,  in  a moment,  seems  to  have  abruptly  changed  his  article  of  trade 
without  becoming  in  any  respect  a man  of  the  first  order.  After  a voyage  to 
Antwerp  he  was  enamoured  of  Van  Dyck,  as  Bol  had  been,  and  he  set  himself 
first  of  all  to  paint  portraits  minute  in  detail,  smooth,  cold,  arranged,  not 
having  well  understood  the  delicacy  of  Van  Dyck;  in  a word,  to  paint  portraits 
with  perruques.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  consider  as  a true  artist,  or 
indeed  simply  as  an  artist,  the  man  who  has  produced  work  of  a double  char- 
acter, and  of  whom  the  first  half  of  his  career  or  his  work  seems  absolutely 
foreign  to  the  second.  That  is  to  say  that  both  Maes  and  Dou  are  devoid  of 
sincerity  and  true  conviction,  and  the  beautiful  calling  of  the  artist  is  a second- 
ary thing  after  all  from  the  moment  that  art  is  lacking.  In  truth,  Gerard  Dou 
and  Nicolaas  Maes  represent  in  Dutch  art  an  almost  hateful  element,  or,  at 
the  least,  an  extremely  antipathetic  one:  knowledge  and  cleverness  of  handling 
put  to  the  service  of  truly  too  mediocre  brains. — translated  from  the 

FRENCH 

CHARLES  BLANC  1 HISTOIRE  DES  PEINTRES  ’ 

THE  Count  de  Vence,  a celebrated  amateur  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
possessed  a picture  by  Nicolaas  Maes  which  represented  a Dutch  woman 
reproaching  her  young  husband,  while  a pretty  servant-girl  listens  to  this  repri- 
mand at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  and  appears  to  take  some  interest  in  it.  But 
this  charming  picture,  the  only  picture  by  Maes  which  was  then  known  in 
France,  could  not  have  drawn  his  name  out  of  obscurity.  It  is  only  towards 
the  end  of  the  last  century  that  some  works  of  this  painter  were  seen  at  Paris 
and  that  people  began  to  appreciate  him.  Nevertheless,  the  biographer 
Descamps  had  devoted  two  pages  to  Maes  in  his  second  volume  of  his  ‘Life 
of  the  Painters,’  published  in  1755,  and  the  little  which  he  said  about  Maes 
was  drawn  from  the  historians  Houbraken  and  Weyermann,  who  have  spoken 
of  Maes  only  as  a painter  of  portraits. 

Nicolaas  Maes  was  born  at  Dordrecht  in  1632.  His  first  lessons  were 
given  him  by  a mediocre  artist  whom  he  soon  left  in  order  to  put  himself 
under  the  tutelage  of  Rembrandt.  As  he  was  an  intelligent  man,  Maes 
took  good  care  not  to  servilely  imitate  his  master,  but  he  profited  by  his 
instructions  in  order  to  create  a manner  for  himself,  a manner  which  is 
distinguished  by  an  astonishing  vigor  of  tone,  extraordinary  relief  of  the 
figures,  and  piquancy  of  effect.  He  made  use  of  the  fantastic  light  of  Rem- 
brandt in  order  to  make  brilliant  the  most  vulgar  episodes  of  common  life. 
He  put  with  magical  painting  a servant-maid  in  her  kitchen  or  an  old  woman 
in  spectacles  before  her  Bible.  As  Gerard  Dou,  he  took  from  Rembrandt 

[115] 


32 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


only  his  naturalism;  but  where  Gerard  Dou  had  put  fineness  of  execution  he 
put  force,  and  the  extreme  finish  which  his  fellow-disciple  obtained  only  with 
pains,  skill,  and  extraordinary  patience,  Maes  attained  without  effort,  sculp- 
turing all  the  forms,  due  to  a bold  brush  and  vigorous  modeling. 

Although  the  painting  of  Maes  does  not  show  the  characteristics  of  facility, 
it  appears  that  he  developed  that  quality  to  such  an  extent  that  it  came  to  be 
the  means  of  his  making  his  fortune,  which  he  by  no  means  neglected.  As  he 
had  above  all  the  talent  for  getting  resemblances,  he  became  a painter  of  por- 
traits, and  instead  of  returning  to  Dort,  he  established  himself  at  Amsterdam, 
to  practise  his  art  there  and  become  rich.  In  this  ambition  Maes  was  not 
content  to  make  his  heads  stand  out  on  the  canvas;  he  flattered  his  models, 
they  said,  and  this  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  great  vogue  he  had  at  Am- 
sterdam, almost  on  leaving  Rembrandt’s  studio,  although  he  rendered  great 
homage  to  the  immense  superiority  of  his  master.  His  polish  as  well  as  his 
good  manners,  his  spirit,  naturally  merry  and  accustomed  to  intercourse  with 
the  world,  still  more  augmented  his  clientele  of  a painter  of  portraits,  and 
brought  him  a reputation  which  he  translated  into  florins,  for  he  made  his 
sitters  pay  very  dear.  Descamps  and  many  others  after  him  have  said  that 
the  pictures  of  Maes  were  clear  and  that  he  produced  great  effects  without 
shadows.  That  is  not  very  just  criticism,  for  the  pictures  of  Maes  are  ordi- 
narily very  vigorously  shaded.  If  the  shadows  are  not  extended  in  great 
masses,  as  with  Rembrandt,  they  are  at  least  strongly  charged  and  sur- 
rounded, and  as  the  half-tones  are  very  brief,  the  passage  from  light  to  dark 
is  made  brusquely,  and  it  is  thus  that  the  painter  arrives  at  so  powerful  an 
effect,  at  so  much  roundness,  so  much  relief. 

Once  rich,  and  tired  of  always  painting  the  bourgeois  and  bourgeoisie  of 
Amsterdam,  Maes  had  the  desire  to  see  the  works  of  the  great  artists  at  Ant- 
werp, of  whom  people  talked  at  that  time,  throughout  Europe.  Initiated  at 
Rembrandt’s  studio  into  the  free-masonry  of  art,  he  was  cordially  received 
by  the  Antwerp  painters  and  soon  recognized  by  them  as  a confrere.  When 
he  paid  visit  a to  Jordaens  he  was  taken  into  a room  full  of  paintings,  which 
he  had  time  to  look  over  while  waiting  for  the  master  of  the  house  to  appear. 
Jordaens,  who  observed  his  visitor  through  the  keyhole,  saw  that  he  stood 
before  the  most  beautiful  picture  in  the  gallery.  “I  see  well,”  said  he,  on 
entering,  “that  you  are  a great  connoisseur,  or  perhaps  a skilful  painter,  for 
the  best  pieces  in  my  gallery  are  looked  at  longer  than  the  others.”  “I  am  a 
painter  of  portraits,”  said  Maes.  “In  that  case,”  replied  Jordaens,  “I  sin- 
cerely pity  you.  You  are  then  one  of  those  martyrs  of  painting  who  so  who 
merit  our  commiseration?”  “And,  indeed,”  said  Campo  Weyermann,  well 
recalls  this  anecdote,  “Maes  had  passed  his  life  of  a painter  in  finding  him- 
self under  the  influence  of  human  vanity,  so  difficult  to  manage.” 

Maes  was  truly  too  modest  when  he  said  to  Jordaens,  “I  am  a painter  of 
portraits,”  not  because  the  portrait  must  not  be  considered  as  secondary  to 
genre  in  art,  and  not  because  it  presents  the  greatest  difficulties  in  painting; 
but,  in  the  thought  of  Maes,  this  word  addressed  to  an  artist  of  the  rank  of 

[116] 


MAES 


33 


Jordaens  was  pronounced  in  a modest  sense.  For  the  posterity  of  art-lovers, 
Maes  has  remained  a painter  of  familiar  scenes,  as  Pieter  de  Hooch.  Less 
varied  than  he  in  his  action,  less  supple,  but  not  less  robust,  Maes  has  equaled 
that  master  in  the  power  of  his  effects.  The  pictures  by  him  which  we  have 
seen  at  London  in  the  National  Gallery  are  marvelous;  the  triviality  of  the 
subject  is  relieved  by  the  charm  of  an  execution  surprising  in  vigor  and  spirit. 
You  look,  let  us  suppose,  as  you  pass,  into  a kitchen,  an  old  woman  who 
scrapes  turnips,  having  near  her  some  housekeeping  utensils,  a pail,  a spin- 
ning-wheel. . . . If  it  is  in  a picture  by  Maes  that  this  humble  interior  has 
appeared  to  you,  it  will  be  impossible  for  you  not  to  stop  a long  time  to  look 
into  it  and  to  forget  it.  The  painting  of  Nicolaas  Maes  is  of  the  kind  which 
enforces  itself  upon  the  remembrance.  The  light  shines,  the  canvas  pene- 
trates, the  objects  stand  out  before  the  eye  in  making  its  tour,  and  if  the  fig- 
ures were  of  life-size  they  would  come  to  meet  you,  so  powerful  is  the  illusion, 
so  solid  the  tone,  so  sculptured  in  relief  and  so  palpable  are  the  forms. 

In  his  little  familiar  scenes  Maes  is  not  always  insignificant  or  vulgar  in 
the  choice  of  his  subject.  Often,  very  often  indeed,  his  composition  is  ingen- 
ious, spirituelle,  piquant.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  placed  in  the  most  picturesque 
spot  in  the  house;  the  painter  voluntarily  puts  himself  in  a place  from  where 
he  can  see  at  the  same  time  the  height  and  depth  of  the  house,  the  stairs  which 
descend  to  the  cellar  and  those  which  mount  to  the  first  story.  The  frame  of 
the  composition  thus  almost  presents  to  him  an  optical  interest.  Now,  the 
figures  which  the  painter  puts  into  the  scene  have  ordinarily  some  mischief  to 
do,  to  listen  to  some  secret  conversation,  to  discover  a theft,  to  surprise  an 
infidelity.  I remember  having  seen  at  Amsterdam,  at  the  house  of  M.  Six, 
descendant  of  the  famous  Burgomaster  Six,  the  picture  which  they  call  ‘The 
Listening  Servant.’  We  were  in  the  vestibule  of  a noble  house.  Four  women 
were  seated  round  a table  playing  a game,  in  a room  looking  upon  a stair- 
case, whose  door  was  open.  A fifth  person,  a young  and  pretty  woman,  had 
quitted  the  party,  had  advanced  with  a foxy  step,  and,  leaning  upon  the  bal- 
ustrade of  the  staircase,  was  listening  curiously  to  the  conversation  which  in 
low  voice  an  amorous  couple  were  exchanging  in  a corridor  opening  upon 
some  gardens.  A scarlet  cloak  hung  on  a hook  in  the  wall  and  a suspended 
sword  by  its  side  told  sufficiently  well  that  the  cavalier  whose  proposals  were 
listened  to  by  the  young  woman  standing  so  near  him  was  a soldier.  In  truth, 
the  painting  of  Maes  is  so  powerful  that  for  a long  time  it  makes  the  same 
effect  as  nature  upon  the  memory,  whether  it  is  a picture  which  one  has  seen, 
or  whether  one  has  actually  been  witness  to  one  of  those  amusing  episodes 
which  the  simple  observation  of  every-day  life  can  offer. 

The  name  of  Maes  or  Maas  has  been  borne  by  many  painters.  It  is  for 
that  reason  that  the  Dutch  call  Nicolaas  Maes  the  Rembrandtesque  Maes, 
‘Rembrandtsche  Maas,’  and  his  name,  so  allied  to  that  of  this  great  master, 
will  not  fall  into  oblivion.  Maes  was  not  only  the  pupil  of  Rembrandt;  he 
was,  in  certain  lines  of  art,  his  rival.  Painted  with  a free  and  bold  touch, 
vigorously  blended  and  full  of  gusto,  his  portraits  of  men  clothed  in  black,  of 

[117] 


34 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


women  enlivened  with  gaudy  colors,  take  something  at  the  same  time  from 
Rembrandt  and  from  Titian.  As  for  his  pictures  of  genre,  they  have  almost 
equaled  those  of  Pieter  de  Hooch,  by  their  solidity  of  tone,  play  of  light,  and 
prestige  of  effect. — translated  from  the  french 

JOHN  C.  VAN  DYKE  ‘OLD  DUTCH  AND  FLEMISH  MASTERS’ 

REMBRANDT’S  studio  seems  to  have  been  a mild  sort  of  lotus-land  for 
his  pupils.  Once  there,  they  seemed  to  forget  their  own  individualities, 
and  after  they  wandered  from  it  they  were  forever  talking  about  it  with  the 
paint-brush.  Of  the  dozen  or  more  pupils,  few  escaped  the  impress  of  the 
master  mind.  1 he  explanation  of  this  is  perhaps  easy  enough.  They  had 
not  master  minds  of  their  own.  They  were  able  to  receive  an  impression,  but 
not  able  to  create  one.  There  were  a few  exceptions  to  this,  however;  and 
certainly  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  exceptions  was  Nicolaas  Maes. 

If  one  looks  at  a picture  by  Flinck,  Bol,  or  Eeckhout  he  is  reminded  of  a 
something  that  Rembrandt  might  have  done  better;  but  if  one  looks  at  the 
picture  by  Maes  which  Mr.  Cole  illustrates  [‘The  Spinner’  in  the  Ryks 
Museum,  from  the  Van  der  Hoop  Collection,  very  similar  in  conception  and 
treatment  to  ‘The  Spinner’  of  plate  x]  he  is  struck  with  the  fact  that  this  is 
something  that  Rembrandt  never  did,  or  thought  of  doing.  The  subject,  the 
sentiment,  the  feeling,  are  Maes’s  very  own;  and  even  the  technic,  the  color, 
the  light,  are  somewhat  removed  from  the  Rembrandtesque  formula.  Maes 
was  a pupil  of  Rembrandt,  yet  he  had  a mind  and  an  individuality  that  would 
not  stand  in  absolute  abeyance  to  another  mind.  He  liked  and  learned  Rem- 
brandt’s method,  but  his  cast  of  thought  was  not  in  sympathy  with  Rem- 
brandt’s subject,  or  his  psychological  view.  He  painted  many  portraits,  but 
his  heart  was  not  in  the  study  of  the  human  face.  They  made  up  his  poorest 
work,  and  were  probably  done  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door.  Smooth,  flat- 
tering impersonations,  hued  brightly  to  please  the  women,  they  were  remark- 
ably successful  in  a popular  way,  and  it  was  at  one  time  considered  a favor 
to  be  allowed  to  sit  to  Maes;  but  the  work  was  never  other  than  just  passing 
fair.  His  portraits  do  not  show  the  true  feeling  of  the  painter.  . . . 

That  he  recognized  the  power  of  Rembrandt’s  method  and  was  apt  in 
learning  it  is  quite  true;  and  yet,  even  here,  he  was  something  more  than  a 
follower.  Sharp  lights  and  darks,  rich  tones  of  color,  forceful  modeling, 
were  shown  by  the  master  and  accepted  by  the  pupil;  but  they  were  varied, 
intensified,  newly  employed  by  the  latter.  The  shadows  were  darker,  the 
light  was  whiter,  the  reds  were  deeper  and  more  brilliant.  More  and  more, 
as  we  study  his  pictures,  do  we  find  how  different  he  was  from  Rembrandt  in 
these  features.  The  haunting  sense  of  something  like  them  seen  in  Italy 
comes  back  to  us.  The  sharp  light,  the  blackish  shadow,  and  that  intense 
red  are  characteristics  of  Caravaggio’s  art.  He  got  them  from  Giorgione,  and 
exaggerated  them.  But  how  or  where  did  Maes  get  them  ? Did  his  master 
and  his  contemporaries  learn  them  from  Italian  pictures  in  the  Netherlands; 
or  did  the  Dutch  realize  that  their  type  of  the  human  form  was  not  fitted  in 

[118] 


MAES 


35 


proportions  and  stateliness  for  line  treatment,  and  so,  from  necessity,  orig- 
inated the  picturesque  treatment,  with  light  and  shade,  to  meet  their  subject  ? 
The  pictures  of  Maes  seem  to  ask  these  questions,  hut  fail  to  answer  them. 
They  are  Dutch  pictures  with  something  very  like  Neapolitan  color  and 
chiaroscuro.  All  of  which  is  further  proof  that  Maes  was  not  swept  off  his 
feet  by  the  genius  of  Rembrandt  to  his  own  detriment  as  a painter. 

In  composition  Maes  was  very  simple,  and  as  a draftsman  and  a modeler 
he  was  very  strong.  He  knew  how  to  give  the  substance  and  the  character 
of  objects,  and  he  did  it  with  a force  second  only  to  that  of  his  master.  In 
light  and  shade  he  was  violent  in  contrast  at  times;  and  then  again  he  would 
diffuse  light  through  a whole  interior.  Some  of  his  shadows  are  to-day  almost 
black  and  wanting  in  depth;  while  his  lights  are  often  quite  as  arbitrary  as 
those  of  Rembrandt.  He  was  given  to  handling  sunlight  in  spots,  throwing 
it  upon  a wall  or  a floor,  as  after  him  Descamps,  the  painter  of  the  Orient. 
He  gained  forceful  effects  by  these  means,  but  with  some  loss  of  truth  in  tone. 
This  is  especially  noticeable  in  his  famous  ruby  red.  which,  in  conjunction 
with  black,  he  was  continually  using.  Oftentimes  his  colors  “sing,”  as  Mr. 
Cole  observes;  but  they  “sing”  falsely,  because  they  are  out  of  key.  Again 
at  times  they  are  noisy,  flickering,  and  spotty  — made  so  purposely  for  effect. 
The  Meulenaer  portrait  at  Amsterdam  and  the  Godard  portrait  at  Dresden 
are  illustrations  of  the  flashy  play  of  light  in  his  later  style.  In  them  he  seemed 
striving  after  a jewel-like  brilliancy  in  color,  which,  when  attained,  hardly 
“sang”  in  harmony  with  the  half-lights  and  half-tones.  In  handling  he  seems 
to  have  had  two  styles,  one  for  the  public  and  one  for  himself.  His  portraits 
are  usually  smooth,  thin,  and  of  a porcelain-like  surface.  Even  the  little 
genre  piece,  the  ‘Idle  Servant,’  in  the  National  Gallery,  London,  charming  as 
it  is  in  color  and  composition,  is  as  smooth  as  though  polished  and  rubbed  to 
an  ivory  finish.  His  best  pictures,  however,  such  as  the  ‘Two  Spinners’  at 
Amsterdam,  are  broader  in  every  way,  the  textures  are  not  insisted  upon,  and 
the  brush  is  a little  drier. 

Maes  knew  how  to  paint,  but  doubtless  the  necessities  of  life  often  dictated 
what  he  should  paint.  He  seems  to  have  made  a business  ol  portraiture  and  a 
pleasure  of  genre.  The  portraits  are  too  pretty;  the  genre  pieces  are  too 
scarce. 

RICHARD  MUTHER  'A  HISTORY  OF  PAINTING’ 

WITHIN  the  bounds  of  Dutch  art,  that  of  Rembrandt  stands  isolated. 

However  much  his  pupils  superficially  resemble  him,  his  works  are  the 
revelations  of  a genius,  theirs  are  merely  good  oil-paintings.  It  is  related  that 
Rembrandt  in  the  beginning  devoted  much  time  to  his  teaching.  Himself 
the  most  individual  of  all  artists,  he  encouraged  individuality  in  others,  and 
had  the  atelier  in  which  they  labored  partitioned  off,  that  no  one  might  influ- 
ence the  others.  But  while  he  protected  them  from  each  other,  he  could  not 
rescue  them  from  the  power  of  his  own  personality.  Whatever  was  transfer- 
able they  adopted:  fabrics,  costumes,  and  the  treatment  of  light.  In  the  be- 
ll 1 9 ] 


36 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


ginning,  when  he  was  the  most  admired  painter  of  Holland,  it  was  their 
highest  merit  to  have  their  works  taken  for  his;  but  later,  when  the  favor  of 
the  masses  turned  from  him,  they  trod  more  conservative  paths,  along  the 
broad  road  of  the  easily  comprehensible. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  decade  following  1650  . . . several  excellent  mas- 
ters issued  from  the  school  of  Rembrandt.  Women  peeling  vegetables,  young 
girls  standing  dreamily  at  the  window,  old  women  at  the  spinning-wheel,  car- 
casses of  animals  — such  is  the  content  of  the  quiet,  delicate,  and  very  modern 
pictures  of  Nicolaas  Maes.  The  light  plays  upon  the  red  table-cloth,  gray 
walls,  and  bluish  white  jugs.  In  pictures  like  his  family  scene  with  a little 
drummer-boy  every  chronological  estimate  is  silent:  they  might  be  exhibited 
to-day  and  signed  Christoph  Bischop. 


%l)t  Works  of  jBttcolaas  fttacs 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  PLATES 

‘THE  DREAMER’  PLATE  I 

THIS  picture  is  recognized  by  all  critics  to  be  a masterpiece.  Though 
M.  Burger  refers  to  it  as  a study,  he  calls  it  a “ chef-d’ ceuvrc  of  natural- 
ism, grace,  and  color.”  It  was  probably  painted  while  Maes  was  still  working 
in  Rembrandt’s  studio.  Unlike  many  of  his  works,  this  figure  is  life-size. 

Frederick  Wedmore  describes  it  as  “ in  technical  qualities  high  already, 
though  not  perfect,  and  in  expression  sweet,  tender,  reticent,  and  true.  In 
an  olive-green  gown,  whose  color  is  set  against  the  deep  yet  glowing  red  of 
the  open  window-shutters,  a girl  stands  leaning  from  the  window;  dark  green 
leaves  and  clusters  of  large  apricots  are  around  the  window  and  below  it. 
Already  there  is  a pleasant  arrangement  of  form  and  hue,  color  sober  and 
yet  rich  and  splendid  rather  than  subtle,  and  the  picture  grapples  with  no 
special  intricacies  of  light.  But  here  already  is  the  figure  of  reverie  — no 
reverie,  indeed,  of  the  ascetic  or  the  disappointed  or  the  feebly  sentimental; 
but  a healthy  Dutch  girl,  rounded  in  form  and  supple  of  flesh,  her  thoughts 
adrift  in  strange  places  of  the  life  that  is  before  her.”  It  has  been  suggested, 
however,  that  she  may  be  looking  at  her  lover,  who  is  standing  below  on  the 
pavement,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  what  Timothy  Cole 
writes:  “A  beautiful  girl  leans  from  a window,  gazing  into  vacancy,  quite 
lost  in  delicious  oblivion  of  the  beholder.  She  is  in  the  heyday  of  youth,  and 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  she  is  dreaming  of  her  lover.” 

The  beginning  of  the  artist’s  signature  in  large  Roman  letters  is  discernible 
on  the  window-ledge  below  the  cushion  on  which  the  girl  leans.  The  picture 
was  bought  for  the  Amsterdam  Museum  in  1829  for  two  thousand  florins. 
It  measures  two  feet  high  by  one  foot  nine  inches  wide. 

[120] 


MAES 


37 


‘THE  LISTENING  SERVANT’  PLATE  II 

THIS  picture,  generally  called  the  ‘Listening’  or  ‘Indiscreet’  servant, 
another  version  of  which  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  Six  Collection 
at  Amsterdam,  perhaps  represents  mistress  instead  of  maid,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  fur-trimmed  jacket  she  wears,  who,  as  she  descends  the  winding  stair- 
case, is  about  to  pull  a bell-rope  as  she  listens  to  her  servants  regaling  them- 
selves in  an  adjoining  cellar,  dark  excepting  for  the  glimmering  light  which 
comes  from  a lantern  that  one  of  them  holds.  In  the  Amsterdam  picture  she 
is  listening  to  a pair  of  lovers  talking  in  the  hallway.  A strong  light  coming 
from  an  unseen  window  falls  full  upon  the  figure  of  the  woman  with  her  white 
kerchief  and  apron,  upon  the  newel-post,  and  brass  bowl  standing  in  the  hall 
chair  beside  the  banister.  This  picture  is  said  to  surpass  the  one  at  Amster- 
dam in  the  management  of  the  light,  and  John  Smith  writes  that  “it  is  not 
lees  distinguished  for  the  surprising  power  of  chiaroscuro  than  for  the  inter- 
esting expression  of  the  cautious  mistress.” 

In  1 8 1 1 this  picture  was  sold  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  guineas  (about 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars).  It  now  belongs  to  His  Majesty’s  fine  collec- 
tion of  Dutch  masters  at  Buckingham  Palace.  It  is  signed,  and  dated  1665, 
and  measures  two  feet  four  inches  by  one  foot  nine  inches. 

(AN  OLD  WOMAN  PARING  APPLES’  PLATE  III 

THIS  old  woman  of  the  Berlin  Museum,  paring  apples  or,  as  some  people 
think,  turnips,  gives  us  another  picture  of  the  humble,  busy  life  of  the 
Dutch  peasant.  Near  her  stands  her  spinning-wheel  ready  for  work;  on  the 
window-ledge  an  open  book,  perhaps  her  Bible;  at  her  feet  a receptacle  with 
a colander  over  it  to  receive  the  fruit.  As  in  ‘The  Spinner’  and  ‘The  Reader,’ 
the  chief  interest  and  charm  of  the  picture  lies  in  the  transfiguring  touch  of 
the  light  from  the  window.  Mr.  Van  Dyke  says  that  only  in  pictures  of  this 
sort  do  we  see  the  poetry  in  Maes’s  nature,  a quality  not  to  be  found  in  his 
contemporaries,  Steen,  De  Hooch,  Terborch,  or  Ostade,  and  that  in  his  inti- 
mate feeling  for  the  humble  life  of  his  peasant  women  he  is  comparable  to 
Millet. 

This  is  number  fifteen  in  Smith’s  ‘Catalogue  Raisonne,’  which  calls  it  “an 
admirable  example  of  the  master.”  In  1826  it  belonged  to  the  Collection  of 
Count  Pourtales;  in  1842,  the  time  that  Smith’s  Catalogue  was  published,  to 
that  of  IT  Phillips,  Esquire,  who  bought  it  for  two  hundred  guineas  (about  one 
thousand  dollars).  It  seems  to  have  passed  through  many  hands,  for  in  1899 
it  was  bought  from  the  collection  of  Lord  Francis  Hope  for  the  Berlin  Royal 
Gallery.  It  measures  something  less  than  two  feet  square. 

‘PORTRAIT  OF  A WOMAN’  PLATE  IV 

THIS  portrait,  recently  acquired  by  the  Metropolitan  Museum  from  the 
Ehrich  Galleries,  represents  an  elderly  woman  seated  in  dignified  mien, 
with  arms  folded,  holding  in  one  hand  a fan.  Her  cap  and  dress  are  of  black 

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38 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


silk,  and  she  wears  a broad  white  linen  collar  reaching  to  the  shoulders, 
and  white  undersleeves.  We  think  this  one  of  the  better  portraits  by  Maes, 
though  totally  unlike  his  master  Rembrandt.  He  has  added  the  accessories 
of  drawn  curtain  and  landscape  in  accordance  with  the  prevalent  taste  of 
his  later  years. 

Elizabeth  L.  Cary,  writing  in  the  ‘Scrip,’  says  of  this  picture:  “The  por- 
trait of  an  old  lady  by  Nicolaas  Maes  is  a particularly  striking  composition, 
with  wonderful  painting  of  black  in  the  silk  gown  and  a delicate  feeling  for 
the  diaphanous  quality  of  the  kerchief  and  undersleeves.  The  face  has  no 
suggestion  of  the  peasant  type;  it  is  that  of  a well-born,  well-nurtured  aristo- 
crat, and  this  impression  of  inherited  refinement  is  emphasized  by  the  hands, 
in  which  the  pale  color,  the  long,  slender  fingers,  the  smooth  texture,  speak  of 
beauty  faded  but  lingering.” 

The  canvas  measures  nearly  four  feet  high  by  three  broad. 

‘THE  READER’  PLATE  V 

HERE  we  have  another  picture  of  a woman  in  her  declining  years,  though 
she  seems  to  belong  to  a higher  class  socially  than  the  ‘Spinners.’  The 
full  light  from  an  unseen  window  strikes  her  as  she  sits  in  an  armchair  on  the 
further  side  of  a table,  reading  a heavy  volume.  The  color-scheme  is  rich 
and  dark.  She  is  dressed  in  a black  skirt  and  red  jacket,  the  thick  tapestry 
table-cloth  being  yellowish  brown  in  tone.  The  spacious  room  with  its  pil- 
lared wall  has  more  pretensions  than  many  others  painted  by  Maes.  In  a 
niche  in  the  wall  behind  her  are  some  jugs  and  a classic  bust;  on  the  table 
are  books,  ink-well,  and  scroll.  M.  Burger  believes  that  this  must  have  been 
painted  in  Maes’s  early  years,  but  after  1656,  for  the  head  of  the  statue  seen 
in  this  picture,  as  well  as  a similar  one  in  a portrait  in  the  gallery  of  Arenberg, 
he  believes  came  from  the  studio  of  Rembrandt,  whose  effects  were  inventoried 
and  sold  in  June,  1856. 

The  canvas  came  from  the  ancient  Lyversberg  Collection  at  Cologne,  and 
was  bought  for  three  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-five  francs  (six  hundred 
and  forty-nine  dollars)  in  1858  at  the  Fraikin  Sale.  It  measures  two  feet 
three  inches  high  by  nearly  two  feet  long. 

‘PORTRAIT  OF  A MAN’  PLATE  VI 

THE  ‘ Portrait  of  a Man’  of  the  National  Gallery  is,”  writes  Edward  T. 
Cook,  “a  singularly  life-like  portrait  of  a singularly  unattractive  face.” 
This  picture  seems,  however,  to  belong  to  the  earlier  and  better  class  of  Maes’s 
portraits  painted  only  a few  years  after  he  went  to  Antwerp.  It  is  very  simply 
treated.  The  sitter,  who  shows  considerable  force  of  character  in  his  face, 
is  placed  in  an  armchair  in  a natural  attitude,  one  hand  resting  on  the  arm, 
the  other  with  the  fingers  placed  between  the  leaves  of  a book.  He  is  dressed 
in  a black  robe  edged  with  brown  fur,  and  behind  him  hangs  a deep  red 
curtain. 


[122] 


MAES 


39 


The  portrait  recalls  Rembrandt  somewhat  in  the  chiaroscuro,  the  most 
intense  light  falling  on  the  flesh,  the  white  linen  collars  and  cuffs,  and  the 
edge  of  the  book,  the  head  and  the  figure,  being  merged  with  soft  outlines 
into  the  background.  One  does  not  feel  that  Maes  has  flattered  his  sitter  in 
the  least.  Flattery  in  addition  to  skill  in  obtaining  a good  likeness  were  the 
qualities  alleged  to  have  given  the  artist  such  a vogue  among  the  wealthy 
upper  classes. 

The  canvas  is  signed  on  the  wall  N.  Maes,  and  dated  1666.  It  was  a gift 
to  the  National  Gallery  in  1888  from  Sir  Theodore  Martin. 

‘THE  IDLE  SERVANT’  PLATE  VII 

‘ f | VHE  IDLE  SERVANT’  gives  us  the  interior  of  a kitchen,  where  in  the 

X foreground  the  maid-servant  has  fallen  asleep  over  her  work,  her  pots 
and  pans  being  scattered  over  the  floor,  while  a cat  is  stealing  a young  duck- 
ling from  a plate  on  the  dresser.  The  young  housewife  has  just  discovered  her 
sleeping  maid,  and,  with  a humorous  expression  on  her  face,  holds  out  her 
hand  as  if  appealing  to  the  sympathy  of  the  spectator  for  her  maid’s  delin- 
quency. In  the  background,  through  an  open  door  looking  into  another 
room  and  raised  by  a few  steps,  is  a group  of  three  people  seated  at  a small 
table  near  a window,  perhaps  waiting  for  the  roasted  fowl  which  has  not 
appeared. 

“This  is  one  of  the  master’s  most  estimable  productions,”  writes  Smith, 
“possessing  extraordinary  effect,  combined  with  admirable  finishing.” 
Smith  imported  it  into  England  and  it  formed  part  of  the  collection  of  R.  Sim- 
mons, Esquire,  until  he  bequeathed  it  to  the  National  Gallery  in  1846.  It 
measures  two  feet  three  and  one  half  inches  by  one  foot  nine  inches.  It  is 
signed  and  dated,  1655. 

‘THE  CARD-PLAYERS’  PLATE  VIII 

THE  CARD-PLAYERS’  is  rather  a unique  example  hy  Maes.  It  un- 
doubtedly gives  us  two  portraits,  perhaps  a brother  and  sister,  at  the 
same  time  that  it  recalls  his  early  pictures  of  genre  in  that  the  two  figures  are 
occupied  in  a most  natural  manner  with  playing  their  game.  The  young  man 
is  dressed  in  a black  velvet  suit  with  gold  embroidery;  the  girl,  in  a gown  of 
deep  red.  The  table  is  covered  with  a brown  cover,  while  the  background  is 
dark  olive-brown  in  tone,  showing  the  base  of  a pillar  behind  the  girl. 

The  picture  was  purchased  from  the  Monson  Sale  by  the  National  Gallery 
in  1888.  The  auctioneer  attempted  to  sell  it  for  a Rembrandt,  but  from  its 
style  and  color  it  was  adjudged  to  be  by  Nicolaas  Maes,  though  some  critics 
have  wished  to  attribute  it  to  another  pupil  of  Rembrandt’s,  Carl  Fabritius, 
because  of  its  large  size,  unusual  with  Maes.  A contemporary  article  written 
for  the  ‘Times’  says:  “In  any  case  it  is  unmistakably  of  the  Rembrandt 
school,  and  owes  its  inspiration  to  the  method  of  presentation  peculiar  to  the 
master.  From  every  technical  point  of  view  it  is  first-rate.  It  is  infused  with 

[123] 


40 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


the  largeness  of  style,  the  just  appreciation  of  character,  and  the  glowing 
color  to  be  found  in  Rembrandt’s  matured  works.  It  is  the  turn  of  the  girl 
to  play.  She  regards  her  hand  in  evident  perplexity,  doubtful  which  card  to 
throw  down.  The  man  is  apparently  sure  of  his  game.” 

The  equivalent  of  about  six  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five  dol- 
lars was  paid  for  this  canvas  when  it  was  purchased  for  the  National  Gallery 
in  1888. 

‘PORTRAIT  OF  THE  DUCHESSE  DE  MAZARIN’  PLATE  IX 

THIS  amusing  portrait  of  a young  girl  very  much  over-dressed  and  be- 
decked with  jewels  doubtless  belongs  to  Maes’s  later  years,  when  his 
chief  aim  was  to  please  and  flatter  rather  than  to  create  a work  of  art.  The 
young  duchess  with  her  dark  eyes  and  hair  and  full  lips  is  pretty  and  attract- 
ive, though  she  does  not  give  much  promise  of  intellectuality  in  her  later 
years.  She  is  represented  standing,  in  three-quarters  length,  gowned  in  a 
handsome  decollete  dress  of  white  satin  embroidered  in  gold  and  trimmed 
with  jewels.  A red  cloak  is  thrown  loosely  about  her,  which  her  hand  clasps 
as  it  falls  over  her  left  shoulder.  Her  curling  brown  hair  is  elaborately 
coiffeured,  and  she  wears  a head-dress,  which  seems  to  be  a sort  of  turban  of 
red  and  white  feathers.  The  background  is  dark  and  somber,  showing  on 
our  right  an  indistinct  landscape  with  a troupe  of  allegorical  figures  playing 
on  musical  instruments. 

This  canvas  was  purchased  by  the  Metropolitan  Museum  in  1871,  and 
measures  three  feet  and  a half  high  by  two  feet  eight  inches  wide. 

‘THE  SPINNER’  PLATE  X 

THERE  are  two  pictures  of  an  old  woman  spinning  in  the  Ryks  Museum 
of  Amsterdam,  one  bequeathed  in  the  Van  der  Hoop,  the  other  in  the 
Dupper,  Collection.  They  are  similar  in  composition  and  treatment.  Mr. 
Cole  engraved  the  former  in  ‘Old  Italian  Masters,’  but  said  that  there  was 
nothing  to  choose  between  them.  Our  plate  gives  us  the  latter,  that  of  the 
Dupper  Collection,  which  is  slightly  the  larger  of  the  two.  An  old  peasant 
woman  busy  at  her  spinning-wheel  is  seated  in  the  background  near  a table 
covered  with  a red  cloth  of  that  warm  tone  so  much  beloved  by  Maes.  She 
wears  a black  cap  and  jacket  with  red  and  green  sleeves  and  green  skirt. 
Upon  the  table  lie  the  bobbin  and  spindle,  upon  the  walls  are  hanging  jugs 
of  common  blue-and-white  ware,  while  another  jug  stands  upon  the  floor. 
This  is  the  simple  subject,  but  the  picture  is  rendered  immortal  by  the  handling 
of  the  light  that  falls  from  a window  upon  the  aged  worker,  transforming  the 
humble  scene  into  one  of  great  beauty. 

M.  Bredius,  speaking  of  this  picture,  ecxlaims:  “What  perfection  in  the 
finesse  of  the  chiaroscuro!  What  brilliancy  in  the  red  of  the  sleeve  of  the 
jacket!”  And  M.  Burger  remarks  that  these  two  ‘Spinners’  of  the  Ryks 
Museum  and  ‘The  Milkmaid’  of  the  Van  Loon  Collection  in  Amsterdam 
are  worthy  to  be  hung  on  a line  with  the  Rembrandts. 

[124] 


MAES 


41 


The  picture  is  signed  to  the  right,  N.  MAES.  Before  going  to  the  Dupper 
Collection  it  belonged  to  the  Collection  Rombouts  of  Dordrecht,  the  artist’s 
native  town.  It  measures  two  feet  by  one  foot  nine  inches. 

A LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  PAINTINGS  BY  NICOLAAS  MAES 
WITH  THEIR  PRESENT  LOCATIONS 

AUSTRIA.  Budapesth,  Gallery:  Portrait  of  a Man  — BELGIUM.  Antwerp, 
-Collection  Kums:  The  Frugal  Repast  — Brussels,  Museum:  A Woman  read- 
ing (Plate  v);  Portrait  of  a Man  ; Portrait  of  a Woman — -Brussels,  Arenberg  Gal- 
lery: Portrait  of  a Man  — DENMARK.  Copenhagen,  Gallery:  Portrait  of  a Man; 
Portrait  of  a Woman  — ENGLAND.  London,  National  Gallery:  The  Idle  Servant 
(Plate  vn);  The  Cradle;  The  Dutch  Housewife;  The  Card-Players  (Plate  vm);  The 
Portrait  of  a Man  (Plate  vi)  — London,  Hertford  House:  A Boy  on  Horseback;  The 
Servant  on  the  Stair;  Boy  with  a Hawk  — London,  Buckingham  Palace:  The  Listen- 
ing Servant  (Plate  u) — -London,  Dulwich  Gallery:  Old  Woman  seated,  eating  — 
London,  Apsley  House:  A Girl  selling  Milk;  A Girl  listening  — London,  Bridge- 
water  House:  A Girl  threading  her  Needle  — London,  Collection  of  Lord 

Northbrook:  The  Sleeping  Servant-Maid  — London,  Lord  Lansdowne:  Girl  seated 
by  a Cradle  — London,  Collection  of  Mr.  Labouchere:  The  Listener;  The  Lace- 
Worker — FRANCE.  Paris,  Louvre:  The  Blessing — GERMANY.  Berlin,  Gal- 
lery: Old  Woman  paring  Apples  (Plate  in);  Bishop  Reading — Dresden,  Gallery: 
Two  Women  in  a Kitchen;  Portrait  of  Baron  Godard  von  Rude-Agrim;  Portrait  of  Graf 
von  Athlone,  Herr  of  Ameronghem  — Munich,  Pinakothek:  Portrait  of  a Young  Man 
in  a Landscape;  Portrait  of  a Young  Woman  in  a Landscape — HOLLAND.  Amster- 
dam, Ryks  Museum:  The  Dreamer  (Plate  i);  Old  Woman  spinning  (From  the  Van  der 
Hoop  Collection);  Old  Woman  spinning  (From  the  Dupper  Collection)  (Plate  x);  Grace 
Before  Meat  (From  the  Society  Felix  Meritis);  Portrait  of  Cornelis  Evertsen  — Amster- 
dam, Six  Collection:  The  Listening  Servant;  Six  Members  of  the  Guild  of  Surgeons 
at  Amsterdam;  Portrait  of  Willem  Six  as  a Child  — Amsterdam,  Van  Loon  Collec- 
tion: Milkmaid  at  the  Door  of  a House  — Dordrecht,  Gallery:  Portrait  of  Jacob  de 
Witt  — Haarlem,  Gallery:  Portrait  of  Versyl;  Portrait  of  Catherina  de  Sadelaer  — 
The  Hague,  Gallery:  Portrait  of  a Man;  Diana  and  Nymphs  Bathing  — The  Hague, 
Collection  Steengracht:  An  Interior  — The  Hague,  Collection  Prince  Frederik 
Henri:  Portrait  of  a Man;  Portrait  of  a Woman  — The  Hague,  Collection  Stuers: 
Portrait  of  a Man;  Portrait  of  a Woman  — Rotterdam,  Gallery:  Portraits  of  a 
Family;  Portrait  of  Maria  Colve;  Portrait  of  a Boy  — ITALY.  Florence,  Uffizi: 
Young  Girl  praying  — RUSSIA.  St.  Petersburg,  L’Hermitage:  An  Interior,  a 
Mother  with  her  Children;  A Woman  Fallen  Asleep  while  winding  Thread  — UNITED 
STATES.  New  York,  Metropolitan  Museum:  Portrait  of  the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin, 
(Plate  IX);  Portrait  ot  a Woman  (Plate  iv). 


JJicolaas  jUaes  SStbltograpIjy 

A LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINE  ARTICLES 
DEALING  WITH  NICOLAAS  MAES 

ALEXANDRE,  A.  Histoire  populaire  de  la  peinture:  ecoles  flamande  et  hollondaise. 
IX  Paris,  1894  — Blanc,  C.  Histoire  des  peintres  de  toutes  les  ecoles:  ecole  hollond- 
aise. Paris,  1 863  — Bredius,  A.  Les  chefs-d'oeuvre  du  Musee  Royal  d’Amsterdam. 

[125] 


42 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


Munich,  1890  — Bredius,  A.,  and  Moes,  E.  W.  Oud  Holland.  Amsterdam,  1883- 
97  — Bryan,  M.  Dictionary  of  Painters  and  Engravers.  New  York,  1905  — Burger,  W. 
Musees  de  la  Hollande.  Paris,  1858-60 — Burger,  W.  Etudes  sur  les  peintres  hol- 
landais  et  flamands.  Brussels,  1860- — Buxton,  J.  W.,  and  Poynter,  E.  J.  German, 
Flemish,  and  Dutch  Painting.  London,  1881  — Cook,  E.  T.  A Handbook  to  the  Na- 
tional Gallery.  London,  1897  — Descamps,  J.  B.  Vie  des  Peintres.  Paris,  1842-43  — 
Durand-Greville,  E.  [in  La  Grande  Encyclopedic]  Paris  — Geffroy,  G.  The  Na- 
tional Gallery,  with  an  introduction  by  Sir  Walter  Armstrong.  London,  1904 — Gower, 
Lord  R.  Guide  to  Public  and  Private  Galleries  of  Holland  and  Belgium.  London,  1875 
— Gower,  Lord  R.  The  Figure-Painters  of  Holland.  London,  1880  — Havard,  H. 
The  Dutch  School  of  Painting.  Translated  by  G.  Powell.  New  York,  1885  — Hou- 
braken,  A.  Grosse  Schonbourg  der  Niederlandischen  Maler  und  Malerinnen.  Trans- 
lated by  A.  von  Wurzbach.  Vienna,  1880. — -Kugler,  F.  T.  Handbook  of  Painting; 
the  German,  Flemish,  and  Dutch  Schools.  Revised  by  J.  A.  Crowe.  London,  1874  — 
Leslie,  C.  R.  Handbook  for  Young  Painters.  London,  1887  — Muther,  R.  The 
History  of  Paintingfrom  the  Fourth  to  the  Early  Nineteenth  Century.  NewYork,  1907  — 
Philippi,  A.  Die  Bliite  der  Malerei  in  Holland.  Leipsig,  1901  — Poynter,  E.  J.  The 
National  Gallery.  NewYork,  1899  — Smith,  J.  A.  Catalogue  Raisonne  of  the  Works 
of  the  Most  Eminent  Dutch,  Flemish,  and  French  Painters.  London,  1829-42  — Stan- 
ley, G.  Painters  of  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  Schools.  London,  1855. — Van  Dyke,  J.  C. 
Old  Dutch  and  Flemish  Masters.  Engravings  by  T.  Cole.  NewYork,  1895 — Waagen, 
A.  F.  E.  Treasures  of  Art  in  Great  Britain.  London,  1854-57 — Wedmore,  F.  Mas- 
ters of  Genre  Painting.  London,  1880  — Woltmann,  A , and  Woermann,  K.  Ges- 
chichte  der  Malerei.  Leipsig,  1887-88  — Wyzewa,  T.  de.  Les  grands  peintres  de 
Flandres  et  de  la  Hollande.  Paris,  1890. 

magazine  articles 

CENTURY,  1894:  J.  C.  Van  Dyke;  Nicolaas  Maes — Scrip,  1906:  E.  L.  Cary; 

The  Galleries,  Note  on  the  ‘ Portrait  of  a Woman’  (Plate  iv),  recently  acquired  by 
the  Metropolitan  Museum. 


[126] 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


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stamps  to  defray  packing  and  forwarding  expenses,  will  receive  a copy 
free. 

BERLIN  PHOTOGRAPHIC  COMPANY 

14  East  23d  Street  (Madison  Square  South)  New  York 

A visit  to  our  Show-rooms  is  respectfully  requested. 


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MASTERS  IN  ART 


Rasters  m £rt  jframmg  prints 


o 


N this  and  the  page  following  we  publish  a few  of  the  several  hundred 
letters  received  from  those  who  have  purchased  our  Framing  Prints. 
These  letters  are  not  selected.  They  are  taken  just  as  they  came, 
without  any  attempt  to  pick  those  which  are  most  commendatory.  Full 
information  concerning  these  prints  will  be  found  in  preceding  issues,  or  we 
shall  be  pleased  to  mail  an  illustrated  list  of  them  on  request. 

BATES  & GUILD  CO.,  42  CHAUNCY  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


“It  was  certainly  worth  while  waiting  for 
them,  as  they  are  unusually  beautiful  prints.” — 
Elsie  R.  Kane,  662  Tenth  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

“ We  are  very  much  pleased  with  them. 
Think  they  compare  very  favorably  with  many 
higher  priced  prints,  and  shall  be  glad  to  know 
if  you  add  other  subjects  to  the  series.”  — Sarah 
W.  Paul,  Kent  Place,  Summit,  N.  J. 

“I  must  confess  that  the  quality  of  the  repro- 
ductions has  considerably  exceeded  my  expec- 
tations.”— H.  Robbins,  no  West  45th  St., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 

“The  set  of  Framing  Prints  which  I received 
from  you  this  week  have  more  than  fulfilled  my 
expectations.” — Mrs.  Daisy  Lee  Smith,  124 
College  St.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

“The  set  of  Framing  Prints  have  been  re- 
ceived and  we  think  them  very  commendable.” 
— Mrs.  H.  F.  Stone,  2 Chestnut  St.,  Engle- 
wood, N.  J. 

“I  have  the  set  of  Framing  Prints  and  think 
that  they  are  satisfactory  reproductions  and 
ought  to  be  approved  as  valuable  and  interest- 
ing.”— John  H.  Converse,  Baldwin  Locomo- 
tive Works,  Philadelphia,  Penn. 

“ It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I express  my 
unqualified  approval  of  them.  They  are  far 
more  beautiful  in  their  treatment  than  I had 
anticipated,  and  I am  very  glad  that  the  oppor- 
tunity was  given  me  to  possess  them.” — G.  D. 
Terry,  131  N.  Mountain  Ave.,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

“I  have  received  the  ten  Framing  Prints,  and 
beg  to  express  my  great  satisfaction  with  them. 

“They  may  be  inferior  to  Braun  prints  in 
subtle  values,  but  so  are  they  in  cost!  And  taking 
everything  into  consideration,  I highly  commend 
your  enterprise,  and  trust  you  may  favorably 
consider  further  additions  to  the  series;  and  for 
myself,  trust  I may  be  able  to  share  in  their  dis- 
tribution. 

“Thanking  you  for  the  opportunity  of  sharing 
in  these  beautiful  prints.” — Elmer  E.  Garnsey, 
White  Plains,  N.  Y. 


“ Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  on  success  of 
your  experiment,  as  far  as  the  reproduction  is 
concerned;  the  Raphael,  Titian,  and  Da  Vinci 
are  remarkably  fine,  equal  to  carbons,  almost!” 
— E.  J.  Mead,  57  Broad  St.,  Stamford,  Conn. 

“The  set  of  Framing  Prints  have  given  me 
eminent  satisfaction.  Both  the  process  and  its 
execution  leave  nothing  to  be  desired.” — 
George  L.  Cary,  Meadville  Theological  School, 
Meadville,  Penn. 

“The  prints  are  superb,  and  I thank  you  for 
the  pleasure  they  will  always  give  me.” — Sarah 
E.  Rogers,  1776  Beacon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

“I  am  much  pleased  with  the  pictures  and 
hope  the  public  will  show  its  appreciation  of 
them  in  such  a way  as  will  warrant  you  in  adding 
others  to  the  set.” — F.  H.  Schofield,  Collegiate 
Institute,  Winnipeg,  Man. 

“The  cost  of  the  series  is  in  no  way  an  indica- 
tion of  its  value  or  the  excellence  of  the  repro- 
ductions, and  I feel  that  you  are  to  be  com- 
mended for  your  enterprise  in  connection  with 
the  publication  of  these  masterpieces  at  so  rea- 
sonable a price.” — Theodore  Irving  Coe,  ioo 
William  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y, 

“I  am  delighted  with  them.  I think  I have 
never  seen  a better  print  of  the  ‘ Sistine  Madonna ; ’ 
and  with  the  exception  of  the  ‘Fighting  Teme- 
raire,’  which  seems  just  a trifle  pale  to  me,  they 
all  seem  equally  good.  I consider  my  subscrip- 
tion a genuine  bargain,  and  will  look  forward  to 
hear  whether  you  may  add  other  pictures  to  the 
collection.”  — Alice  Kurtz  Whiteman,  St. 
James  Rectory,  Greenfield,  Mass. 

“The  reproductions  are  very  pleasing  and  are 
more  satisfactory  to  me  than  the  same  picture  in 
a photograph.  Photographs  have  such  an  annoy- 
i ng  way  of  curling  up,  whereas  these  prints  can 
be  placed  in  a portfolio  instead  of  framing,  to  be 
consulted  when  wanted. 

“The  idea  is  an  excellent  one,  and  I shall  look 
forward  to  more  of  the  same  sort.” — Edwin  H. 
Hewitt,  716  4th  Ave.  So.,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


“ We  are  all  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  your 
ten  large  reproductions  of  masterpieces  of  paint- 
ing. The  ‘Mona  Lisa’  is  the  best  reproduction 
I have  ever  seen,  and  Botticelli’s  ‘Allegory  of 
Spring’  is  also  particularly  fine. 

“The  pictures  will  be  received  with  enthusi- 
asm by  the  art  lovers  of  this  community,  and  we 
hope  you  will  publish  a great  many  more  of 
them.” — Flora  L.  Terry,  12  So.  Cliff  St., 
Ansonia,  Conn. 

“The  prints  received  this  morning.  I am 
more  than  pleased  with  them.  Kindly  let  me 
know  when  you  print  any  other  subjects  and  let 
me  have  list.” — L.  M.  Peters,  3312  Walnut 
St.,  Philadelphia,  Penn. 

“I  received  the  photograph  of  the  ‘Sistine 
Madonna’  and  it  is  very  satisfactory.  It  is  a 
very  good  print,  I will  say  as  good  as  one  I 
bought  in  Dresden  a few  years  ago.”  — Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Page  Thomas,  12  Arnold  Park, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 

“I  am  much  pleased  with  the  Framing  Prints. 
They  are  very  beautiful  and  most  satisfactory, 
and  I should  be  glad  to  have  others  added  to  the 
series.” — Mrs.  L.  F.  Brigham,  Chestnut  Hill, 
Mass. 

“I  have  shown  them  to  several  people  and 
they  too  have  admired  them.  Most  of  them  T 
am  going  to  have  framed,  and  they  will  be  a great 
addition  to  our  home. 

“ If  you  have  any  more  prints  made,  please  let 
me  know.” — Mildred  Fisher,  Sayreville, 

N.  J. 

“I  had  intended  writing  you  long  ago  of  the 
safe  arrival  of  the  Framing  Prints,  with  which  I 
am  very  much  delighted. 

“My  friends,  to  whom  I have  shown  them, 
think  they  are  perfect  gems  and  a pleasure  to 
possess  them.” — Flora  M.  Schmidt,  3423 
Oakwood  Terrace,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

“I  find  the  Framing  Prints  most  satisfactory. 
The  process  seems  to  me  to  be  very  successful. 
All  the  delicate  gradations  of  tone,  the  texture 
of  canvas  and  materials,  the  technic  of  the 
artist,  which  constitute  so  great  a part  in  the 
charm  of  works  by  the  ancient  and  modern 
masters,  are  rendered  with  remarkable  faithful- 
ness.”— Herbert  W.  Hill,  20  Montrose  St., 
Boston,  Mass. 

“The  set  of  Framing  Prints  came  in  splendid 
condition  and  I am  more  than  pleased  with 
them.  The  work  seems  by  far  better  than  any  I 
have  ever  seen  in  this  country.” — Alice  J. 
Newcomb,  Ancho,  N.  M. 

“The  set  of  Framing  Prints  have  been  de- 
livered to  me  in  good  condition.  Both  in  their 
selection  and  their  reproduction,  the  prints  are 
excellent.” — John  Galen  Howard,  604  Mis- 
sion St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


“A  superficial  examination  indicates  them  to 
be  most  excellent  prints  and  certainly  better 
than  anything  of  the  kind  I have  before  seen.” — 
John  Calvin  Stevens,  Oxford  Building,  Port- 
land, Me. 

“I  think  that,  considering  the  price  charged, 
these  are  wonderfully  good  reproductions.” — 
Thomas  R.  Hughes,  Room  914,  66  Beaver  St., 
New  York  City. 

“Those  that  you  sent  me  are  beautiful  in 
every  sense  — a genuine  acquisition  for  one  — 
both  in  beauty  of  tone  and  clear  impression.” — 
Frederic  C.  Martin,  1168  Mulberry  St., 
Flarrisburg,  Penn. 

“We  are  all  much  pleased,  as  a family,  with 
the  reproductions  and  are  more  interested  than 
otherwise  would  be,  because  we  have  seen  most 
of  the  originals  in  Europe.” — Mrs.  J.  O.  Yate- 
man,  253  Knight  St.,  Providence,  R.  I. 

“The  pictures  came  Tuesday  and  are  most 
lovely.  We  have  feasted  on  them  many  times 
since,  and  it’s  being  truly  generous  to  give  one 
away;  but  four  have  gone  to  their  destinations, 
and  have  been  fully  appreciated.  The  wonder 
grows  upon  us  how  you  can  afford  to  do  it  at  that 
price.” — Lizzie  E.  Morse,  North  Easton,  Mass. 

“They  seem  to  me  in  every  way  admirable, 
and  I am  delighted  to  possess  them.  Will  be 
pleased  to  know  what  additional  subjects  will 
be  made  to  the  series.” — Mrs.  Alta  M.  Eves, 
630  South  Howes  St.,  Fort  Collins,  Col. 

“It  seems  to  me  extra  good  value  for  the 
money,  and  I am  well  satisfied.” — J.  D.  Ste- 
phens, Swan  River,  Man. 

“I  am  very  much  pleased  with  the  Framing 
Prints,  which  arrived  in  good  condition  last 
week.” — M.  C.  Macartney,  511  Laurel  St., 
Bellingham.  Wash. 

“I  am  very  much  pleased  with  them,  they  are 
gotten  up  in  such  a beautiful  style.”  — Kate 
Hardy,  415  Stockley  Gardens,  Norfolk,  Va. 

“The  Framing  Prints  even  exceeded  my  ex- 
pectation and  1 am  delighted  with  them.” — 
Gertrude  Heath,  274  Quincy  St.,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. 

“I  desire  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  set 
of  Framing  Prints  and  to  express  my  admira- 
tion and  satisfaction  for  the  same.” — Ada  C. 
Walker,  423  State  St.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

“I  am  very  much  pleased  with  the  prints, 
which  arrived  in  perfect  condition.  They  are 
exquisite  and  fully  equal,  if  not  superior,  in  tone 
and  expression  to  the  most  expensive  photo- 
graphs. Every  one  of  them  is  worthy  a good 
frame,  and  it  would  be  evidence  of  a person’s 
good  taste  if  they  hung  on  his  walls.” — Thomas 
A.  Watson,  East  Braintree,  Mass. 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


FAELTEN  PIANOFORTE 

SCHOOL 

CARL  FAELTEN,  DIRE  CTOR 


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Department  for  Children 


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PEN  DRAWING 

AN  ILLUSTRATED  treatise  by 
, Charles  D.  Maginnis,  which  is 
admittedly  the  best  first  guide  to 
the  study  of  rendering  drawings  in 
pen  and  ink  ever  published.  The 
sale  of  over  5,000  copies  proves  its 
merit. 

Price,  postpaid,  $1.00 

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